A little bit of everything and a lot of nothing: images and stories to take us on an eclectic journey. . . . . . CLICK ON THE HEADING FOR THE "SOURCE" OF THE ARTICLE AND CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR PHOTOGRAPHER. CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VERSION.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks. 2. Everything takes longer than you think. 3. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. 4. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then. 5. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway. 6. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop. 7. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. 8. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. 9. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. 10. Mother nature is a bitch. 11. It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. 12. Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first. 13. Every solution breeds new problems.

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was built in 1929-1931 as a successor to the old Waldorf-Astoria hotel at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building.Designed by the renowned hotel architects (Sherry Netherland, Pierre) Schultze & Weaver, the 47-storey new hotel cost $42 million and was the largest in the world at the time of its completion. Crowning the luxurious and monumental hotel (2,200 rooms occupying a whole city block), the twin Waldorf Towers rise to 190.5 m, high above the 20 floors of the main hotel building.

The private apartments of the Waldorf Towers, which has its own entrance on 50th Street, has seen many famous tenants from the Duke of Windsor and Douglas MacArthur to "Lucky" Luciano. The presidential suite at the 35th floor has been the traditional staying place of the President of the United States while in New York City. Building's base is of granite facing, and the upper facade is clad in brick and limestone. The towers are topped with stylized bronze-clad cupolas.

There are a number of lobbies running through the building, decorated with murals, and the Park Avenue lobby has the floor mosaic The Wheel of Life by Louis Rigal. The 3 m high clock in the central lobby originated from the 1893 Chicago World Fair and was subsequently bought by the Astor Family for the old hotel. The clock's eight-faced base is decorated with portraits of American presidents and Queen Victoria and the quarterly chime sound is copied from the London Westminster Cathedral's clock tower.

The 53-meter long Starlight Roof was in its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s a high-society meeting place, from which also regular radio broadcasts were sent. The room occupies the Park Avenue side setback and has floor-to-ceiling windows extending along the whole wall, as well as an outdoor terrace. The 6 m high ceiling of the room is covered with a grille and -- giving the room its name -- originally had a retractable roof.

The large hotel ballroom, the place for prominent galas and promotional parties, is four storeys high and several smaller ballrooms are adjoined to it. In all, the hotel's ballrooms could accomodate 6,000 people. Built above the railway tracks leading to Grand Central Terminal, the hotel had also its own underground railroad siding and an elevator for direct entrance from private railway cars.

"Phantom Tattoo" by Washington Color School artist Gene Davis suspends from a wall that tilts away from the painting's top edge.

"Quantum Cloud XXXIII" by Antony Gormley, part of the museum's permanent collection, stands in a room that ends in a narrow wedge of claustrophobic space.

Some of the features of the Hamilton Building are reminiscent of a ship's prow rising dramatically toward the Denver sky. How the Denver Art Museum will sort out is extreme makeover wil be fascinating to watch.

A long, narrow wedge of the Hamilton Building thrusts up and across 13th Avenue to point toward the original Denver Art Museum.

The inspiration of the Rocky Mountains and geometric rock crystals found in nearby foothills is clear in this wide view of the building, which is named for the museum's longtime board chairman, Frederic C. Hamilton.

Friday, September 29, 2006

We've all heard the expression, right? But do you know what a Blue Moon is ??? . . . . . A Blue Moon is the second full moon in the same month. This is a rare occurrence, it happened in 2004 (July 31) and won't happen again until 2007 (June 30).

At the height of the Roaring '20s, newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst built an extravagant house on five beachfront acres in Santa Monica for his blond mistress, actress Marion Davies. It was the grandest manse at the shore, dwarfing the residences of such Hollywood nobility as Louis B. Mayer, Samuel and Frances Goldwyn, Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer, Harold and Mildred Lloyd, and Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.

Davies, a silent film star, and Hearst entertained assiduously. Their elaborate costume parties drew the likes of Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Gloria Swanson and Howard Hughes, who donned lederhosen for a Tyrolean bash. Charlie Chaplin, rumored to have been Davies' lover, cavorted with her in the 110-foot saltwater swimming pool, lined with Italian marble and spanned by a Venetian marble bridge.

The three-story, Georgian Revival main house, completed in 1928, was U-shaped, with 18 Grecian columns across the back. Davies and Hearst had separate suites connected by a hidden door. Four other houses were occupied by Davies' family, long-term guests and more than 30 full-time servants. Altogether, the complex included 110 bedrooms and 55 bathrooms. As at his sumptuous San Simeon castle on California's Central Coast, Hearst had purchased entire rooms from European locations and had them reassembled in the beach house. He transplanted paneling from Burton Hall in Ireland, a ballroom from a 1750 Venetian palazzo and a 1560 tavern from an inn in Surrey, England. Seventy-five wood carvers worked for a year to complete the balustrades of the main dual staircases.

By the time the mansion was completed, according to "Marion Davies," Fred Lawrence Guiles' 1972 biography, it had cost $7 million — $3 million for construction and $4 million for furnishings and artworks. That would be $83 million today. The interior was palatial, with immense Oriental rugs, Tiffany crystal chandeliers, a room finished in gold leaf and 37 fireplaces.

On special occasions like Hearst's birthday, huge canvas tents were erected to accommodate as many as 2,000 guests. In 1937, partygoers dressed as circus performers (including a bearded Bette Davis) and rode a merry-go-round borrowed from Warner Bros. To make room for it, Hearst ordered a wall torn down and then put back.

In 1945, Davies sold the beach compound and in 1957 the main house was demolished. The state bought the land in 1959 and leased it to the city of Santa Monica, which in turn leased it to the private Sand & Sea Club from 1960 to 1990. The city subsequently operated a day-use beach facility there.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake sent a brick chimney crashing through the roof of the North House. All buildings in the complex were red-tagged. Since then, the site has slowly deteriorated for lack of funds. The North House's windows have been boarded over, as have the historic pool and its whimsical fish tiles. Weeds have sprouted through cracks in the pavement. Railings have rusted and wooden beams stand rotting.

For years, government officials and community activists have worked on a plan to transform the site into a public beach club. For a modest day-use fee, anyone would be able to enjoy the swimming pool where Chaplin and other stars splashed, a sun deck with lounge chairs, volleyball and paddle tennis courts, event rooms, a children's play area and picnic tables. Wallis Annenberg, the TV Guide heiress and philanthropist, has committed nearly $28 million for the project from the Annenberg Foundation. She recalls as a young woman spending glorious summer days at the Sand & Sea Club, where many of the members, like her, were Jewish. Other private clubs tended to exclude Jews. Annenberg said. "It was important to me that this be a lovely fun place for the public to enjoy."

Earlier this week a South Australian betting agency accepted a bet on a horse that died more than two weeks earlier.

Chicakaloo was the horse's name. It was put down Sept. 9 after breaking a leg. Chicakaloo was listed as a 200-1 shot to win the Epsom Handicap on Oct. 7 — long odds, to be sure, yet not bad for a horse that had been dead for more than two weeks.

Tom Hunt placed five Australian dollars ($3.75) on the horse, and the Totalisator Agency Board accepted the wager. Paul Caica, minister of South Australia's gambling watchdog, said his office would investigate the matter — how it was possible, if not quite encouraged, to bet a dead horse.

HERE ARE OTHER STRATEGIES FOR HANDLING A DEAD HORSE:

Wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. However, in business we often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Saying things like "This is the way we always have ridden this horse."

Russia's Triumph-Palace in Moscow was completed in 2005, making it the tallest skyscraper in Europe, surpassing Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt, Germany. The spire is 153 feet tall and is divided into 3000 pieces with a total weight of 52 ton. With 54 floors and a total height of 867 feet when you include the spire, it's the second tallest residential building in the world; the tallest is the 21st Century Tower in Dubai at 269 meters.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Honda's FCX runs on a fuel-cell system that is smaller, lighter and more powerful than the current model. The automaker said its new fuel cell was 20% smaller, 30% lighter and 17% more powerful than the present model. It can start in temperatures as low as 22 degrees below zero, an industry best.

In test drives on Honda's banked track in Tochigi, several visiting journalists hit speeds of 100 mph in the hand-built FCX concept sedan fitted with the new fuel-cell system. Honda says the home fuel maker under development will refine and compress 5 kilograms of hydrogen a day from natural gas. That's more than enough for a daily refill of the system's 3.8-kilogram storage tank, which gives the FCX as much as 270 miles of range.

MALIBU, five years ago: The sun is edging toward the cliffs at sleepy Paradise Cove as a cluster of surfers sit idly on their boards, rising and falling with the swells, scanning the endless blue. Off in the distance a lone surfer drifts toward them. They exchange glances. The surfer is standing — standing — on an oversized board, using a long, outrigger-style paddle to snake through the water like a gondolier. Some of the surfers wince. Put the clown in a red-striped wet suit and he might start belting out an Italian love song.

As the figure slowly comes into view, they do a double take. The clown is the brawny alpha dog of surfing, Laird Hamilton. Dipping his paddle into the swells, Hamilton maneuvers along the breakers, occasionally riding them in — but without ever lying or sitting on his board.

Since then, a small but perceptible shift has occurred in the Southern California surfing community. Seasoned surfers and neophytes alike are now grabbing paddles and taking to the water from a stand-up position. On any given weekend, stand-up paddle surfers can be seen scattered along the coast, particularly at Point Dume and in protected harbors and coves.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

History buffs don't need reminding that the battles of Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge and Chickamauga were crucial to the Civil War. That is commemorated in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, above, the nation's largest military park.

The forest setting is rugged, but the digs are not. Plump beds, clean linen, cozy tents and an on-site gourmet chef beckon hike-in guests to this luxury camp. NO pain, no gain. That's what people always say to get you to do something hard, like carry 30 pounds of gear on your back, sleep on the ground, eat freeze-dried food and go without a bath. But if you had the chance to get into the wilderness without such hassle — be honest now — wouldn't you take it?

Some die-hard lovers of the great outdoors claim to appreciate the hardships of backpacking. But I felt plenty appreciative when I heard I could sleep on clean sheets and eat gourmet meals at a new luxury tent camp in Giant Sequoia National Monument.

California's Sequoia High Sierra Camp sits on 40 of the 49,000 acres of private land that was grandfathered into the monument. The High Sierra Camp, at 8,200 feet elevation, contains 36 tents on private land within the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The grounds include an open-air dining pavilion and a bathhouse with flush toilets and hot showers.

Roomy tents with concrete floors come with comfortable beds, a table and chairs. Mesh panels let in light and provide mountain views, although not a lot of privacy.

About Me

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you will find it interesting. "This and That and More of the Same" strives to show images that are striking along with intriguing human interest stories. The "Memories" blog displays images of family while "Why Ask For the Moon When We Have the Stars" is devoted to friends.